Polyketide synthase (PKS) systems are generally known in the art as enzyme complexes related to fatty acid synthase (FAS) systems, but which are often highly modified to produce specialized products that typically show little resemblance to fatty acids. It has now been shown, however, that PKS-like systems, also referred to herein interchangeably as PUFA PKS systems, PUFA synthase systems, or PKS systems for the production of PUFAs, exist in marine bacteria and certain eukaryotic organisms that are capable of synthesizing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) from acetyl-CoA and malonyl-CoA. The PUFA PKS pathways for PUFA synthesis in Shewanella and another marine bacteria, Vibrio marinus, are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,140,486. The PUFA PKS pathways for PUFA synthesis in the eukaryotic Thraustochytrid, Schizochytrium, is described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 6,566,583. The PUFA PKS pathways for PUFA synthesis in eukaryotes such as members of Thraustochytriales, including the additional description of a PUFA PKS system in Schizochytrium and the identification of a PUFA PKS system in Thraustochytrium, including details regarding uses of these systems, are described in detail in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20020194641, published Dec. 19, 2002, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070089199, published Apr. 19, 2007. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20040235127, published Nov. 25, 2004, discloses the detailed structural description of a PUFA PKS system in Thraustochytrium, and further detail regarding the production of eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5, ω-3) (EPA) and other PUFAs using such systems, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20050100995, published May 12, 2005, discloses the structural and functional description of PUFA PKS systems in Shewanella olleyana and Shewanella japonica, and uses of such systems. These applications also disclose the genetic modification of organisms, including microorganisms and plants, with the genes comprising the PUFA PKS pathway and the production of PUFAs by such organisms. Furthermore, PCT Patent Publication No. WO 05/097982 describes a PUFA PKS system in Ulkenia, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20050014231 describes PUFA PKS genes and proteins from Thraustochytrium aureum. Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Researchers have attempted to exploit polyketide synthase (PKS) systems that have been traditionally described in the literature as falling into one of three basic types, typically referred to as: Type I (modular or iterative), Type II, and Type III. For purposes of clarity, it is noted that the Type I modular PKS system has previously also been referred to as simply a “modular” PKS system, and the Type I iterative PKS system has previously also been referred to simply as a “Type I” PKS system. The Type II system is characterized by separable proteins, each of which carries out a distinct enzymatic reaction. The enzymes work in concert to produce the end product and each individual enzyme of the system typically participates several times in the production of the end product. This type of system operates in a manner analogous to the fatty acid synthase (FAS) systems found in plants and bacteria. Type I iterative PKS systems are similar to the Type II system in that the enzymes are used in an iterative fashion to produce the end product. The Type I iterative differs from Type II in that enzymatic activities, instead of being associated with separable proteins, occur as domains of larger proteins. This system is analogous to the Type I FAS systems found in animals and fungi.
In contrast to the Type II systems, in Type I modular PKS systems, each enzyme domain is used only once in the production of the end product. The domains are found in very large proteins and the product of each reaction is passed on to another domain in the PKS protein. Additionally, in the PKS systems described above, if a carbon-carbon double bond is incorporated into the end product, it is usually in the trans configuration.
Type III systems have been more recently discovered and belong to the plant chalcone synthase family of condensing enzymes. Type III PKSs are distinct from type I and type II PKS systems and utilize free acyl-CoA substrates in iterative condensation reactions to usually produce a heterocyclic end product.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are considered to be useful for nutritional, pharmaceutical, industrial, and other purposes. The current supply of PUFAs from natural sources and from chemical synthesis is not sufficient for commercial needs. A major current source for PUFAs is from marine fish; however, fish stocks are declining, and this may not be a sustainable resource. Additionally, contamination, from both heavy metals and toxic organic molecules, is a serious issue with oil derived from marine fish. Vegetable oils derived from oil seed crops are relatively inexpensive and do not have the contamination issues associated with fish oils. However, the PUFAs found in commercially developed plant oils are typically limited to linoleic acid (eighteen carbons with 2 double bonds, in the delta 9 and 12 positions—18:2 delta 9,12) and linolenic acid (18:3 delta 9,12,15). In the conventional pathway (i.e., the “standard” pathway or “classical” pathway) for PUFA synthesis, medium chain-length saturated fatty acids (products of a fatty acid synthase (FAS) system) are modified by a series of elongation and desaturation reactions. The substrates for the elongation reaction are fatty acyl-CoA (the fatty acid chain to be elongated) and malonyl-CoA (the source of the 2 carbons added during each elongation reaction). The product of the elongase reaction is a fatty acyl-CoA that has two additional carbons in the linear chain. The desaturases create cis double bonds in the preexisting fatty acid chain by extraction of 2 hydrogens in an oxygen-dependant reaction. The substrates for the desaturases are either acyl-CoA (in some animals) or the fatty acid that is esterified to the glycerol backbone of a phospholipid (e.g. phosphatidylcholine).
Therefore, because a number of separate desaturase and elongase enzymes are required for fatty acid synthesis from linoleic and linolenic acids to produce the more unsaturated and longer chain PUFAs, engineering plant host cells for the expression of PUFAs such as EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) may require expression of several separate enzymes to achieve synthesis. Additionally, for production of useable quantities of such PUFAs, additional engineering efforts may be required. Therefore, it is of interest to obtain genetic material involved in PUFA biosynthesis from species that naturally produce these fatty acids (e.g., from a PUFA PKS system) and to express the isolated material alone or in combination in a heterologous system which can be manipulated to allow production of commercial quantities of PUFAs.
There have been many efforts to produce PUFAs in oil-seed crop plants by modification of the endogenously-produced fatty acids. Genetic modification of these plants with various individual genes for fatty acid elongases and desaturases has produced leaves or seeds containing measurable levels of PUFAs such as EPA, but also containing significant levels of mixed shorter-chain and less unsaturated PUFAs (Qi et al., Nature Biotech. 22:739 (2004); PCT Publication No. WO 04/071467; Abbadi et al., Plant Cell 16:1 (2004)); Napier and Sayanova, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society (2005), 64:387-393; Robert et al., Functional Plant Biology (2005) 32:473-479; or U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0172682.
Improvement in both microbial and plant production of PUFAs is a highly desirable commercial goal. Therefore, there remains a need in the art for a method to efficiently and effectively produce quantities of lipids (e.g., triacylglycerol (TAG) and phospholipid (PL)) enriched in desired PUFAs, particularly in commercially useful organisms such as microorganisms and oil-seed plants.